DePuy Synthes Spine has taken the opportunity presented by the North American Spine Society (NASS) annual meeting to announce the introduction of ViviGen™ Cellular Bone Matrix, a differentiated cellular allograft for the repair or reconstruction of musculoskeletal defects.
Background
The market release of ViviGen™ is the result of a collaboration between DePuy Synthes Companies of Johnson & Johnson. ViviGen is a HCT/P (Human Cells, Tissues, and Cellular and Tissue-based Product) comprised of cryopreserved live, viable cells within a cortical cancellous bone matrix and demineralized bone, delivering all of the properties required for bone formation.
Over the past four years, LifeNet Health, a world leader in allograft bio-implants and cellular therapies, has conducted extensive research to enable the processing of ViviGen to maintain cell viability, resulting in an acceptable alternative to autograft. ViviGen has been utilized in a variety of spinal fusion surgeries since its initial availability.
DePuy Synthes Spine and DePuy Synthes Biomaterials, divisions of DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., have an exclusive worldwide agreement to market and promote ViviGen and the product will be fully released in the U.S. in January 2015.
Physician comments
Spine surgeon and consultant to DePuy Synthes Spine, Dr. Robert Masson of the NeuroSpine Institute in Orlando, Florida, was the first to implant ViviGen earlier this year. “ViviGen is a unique addition to the cellular allograft market and represents a promising step forward in the field of bone regeneration,” said Dr. Masson.
“The science behind ViviGen, combined with the intraoperative flexibility it provides, drove me to try it initially,” said Dr. Kennedy Yalamanchili, MD, of Christiana Care Hospital in Newark, Delaware, which is one of several sites that has recently used ViviGen. “My experience early on has shown that ViviGen has desirable handling characteristics and is an appropriate alternative to taking the patient’s own bone for many of my spinal procedures.”
Company comments
“Cellular allografts represent an exciting and fast growing new category within the bone graft substitute market,” said Max Reinhardt, President, DePuy Synthes Spine. “We are pleased to expand the category with ViviGen, an innovative product, that together with our existing portfolio, provides a total procedural solution.”
Source: DePuy Synthes Spine
published: November 13, 2014 in: Congresses and Meetings, DePuy, Launches / Withdrawals, Spine